Advice?

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Hey Guys,

Basically, I left college and in to the big wide world in July and have been looking for a job since, Signed on to Jobseekers Allowence (Benefit for unemployed in UK) and have been working occasional kitchen jobs here and there...

I recently begun a job as a Kitchen Assistant on October 17th and left on November 8th, Incredibly short-lived and i'm very upset. Like everyone else I just want to earn a bit of money to save away and hopefully emigrate. So anyways, to the point, I had the mindset of "It's a job, get on with it and reap the fruits of my labour in the Summer" but that wasn't as easy as it seemed. I started the job and within a very short time (1 week) i found i was being stressed by the work, not suprising considering it's a kitchen but i perservered. From the beginning i was getting incredibly upset that my manager was calling me slow and was getting irritated that i had to be explained things several times, as you fellow aspies know it's very difficult to stay focused on one thing when you have got a million things around you. So, my manager's frustration with me was leading to name calling, I tried my best to ignore but i was finding it difficult,

On other matters, I was getting easily stressed with the constantly changing work schedule which was resulting in several late nights and me staying way past my actual shift end time and was causing me to get home very late. This set of constantly changing finishing times and erratic schedule was causing me a lot of anxiety. The line was crossed when they expected me to do 12 hour shifts with no break.. not gonna happen. To believe people here just roll over and let it happen, is ridiculous.

So anyways, I packed the job in last thursday because i'd had enough. I spoke to my line manager and he was refusing to do anything about the rota/talk to the kitchen manager. I'm now out of a job and feeling like a can't go anywhere because my Aspergers is stopping me from intergrating with normal day to day living, so i ask: People with this or similar experience with aspergers, how did you get through this and get a job which doesn't push these boundries?"

I'm sorry i plagued you all with this long-winded essay on my life but i'm in a difficult place and could really use some advice from like minded people

Thanks a lot guys, really means alot

Keep in mind, when you're hired the manager is your pimp. You don't argue with the rota you suck it in and do the job because that's what your being paid for. However it's illegal to have your staff work more than four or six hours(forget which) with out a break as far as I'm aware.

My advice, look for a wherehouse or factory job just for the time being, It's miserable long work. but it ussualy pays out in the end. I just got hired by Amazon dunfirmlin. It's a distribution centre, and am on nightshift tues-sunday doing 11pm to 7am, with a 2 hour bus journey each way.

Why am I suffering it, Sure the money is motivation but no not that. To get those harassing pompus bastards of the JC off my back. The area I live in their testing a new scheme of the goverment. minmum of 9 searchs a week written out in full detail, or you lose your benefit. IF theres a job your physicaly capable of doing within 90 mins travel, you must take it no matter what it is. If you refuse to apply ot take it you lose your money.

I'd peel spuds 12 hours a day for pennys if it ment getting off the brew.

12 hours without a break is probably not even legal. Did you specifically ask for a break and were told no?

The only thing I can say is, that during the difficult time, I got jobs and kept looking for other work while having those jobs. I had a degree, but not much demand in that exact area. Telemarketing worked for me. It was a pretty much one call after another environment, though you do have to get used to other voices around.
I didn't find that too onerous, just slightly boring. But anything to be on a payroll.

Wow you poor bugger, that must be awful but yeah like you said, factory work isn't bad, it's rigid,methodical and therefore less likely to cause any form of anxiety in that department.

The JC have been fairly strict but since mentioning of the Asperger's they have taken a few steps back. I see what you mean, to do what your manager says and that's why i have not argued and just got on with it. But that was when i decided to show that i wanted to leave.
Thewhitrbbit: A small break of 15 minutes is allowed the whole time. But it's not knowing when my break is that causes anxiety.

I can understand this probably seems slightly wimp like of me just to say i can't deal with it when you guys are clearly in a worse position than me and get on with it without complaining but I just can't put myself in those sort of situations. I thought i had grown out of it and left those days at highschool. Oh well, it's about looking forward now isnt it.

Earlier this year, I was working in a busy call center, which is basically like autistic hell and it was not a good fit for me at all. I don't handle constant talking on the phone well, and I can find talking on the phone a bit difficult to navigate. It took a while for me to realise that these things don't make me useless. Just that maybe I have strengths that I could use in another job. I'm now doing online tutoring for an Australian organisation, and I find that really interesting and enjoyable.

A position in office administration might be good, like data entry. Also, if you're good at a particular school subject, you could try tutoring in it. That isn't as reliable as some other jobs, but it's something you could talk about in a job application and it would bring in some money.

Would you ever consider returning to college? What college qualification do you have right now? It might be worthwhile to return, depending on your long term career ambitions and interests.

Also, if emigrating is a goal of yours, you might be interested in work/volunteer abroad programs. This would be good for your CV and develop a lot of new skills.

Thanks for the advice guys,

generally college isn't for me. As much as i miss the good times i had, it's time for me to put money away and save up to move.
Fluffypinkyellow, I'm doing exactly as you said, looking for work in an office and have been, I really enjoy working with ICT in particular: Excel, VMWare, that sort of thing and feel it's much better in a kitchen environment but as i'm over an hour from any large town, it means heck of a lot of travel to get any decent work in that field of work, Neverless, im sure I would get used to it like everyone else,

The real trouble i have is with the interviews, I can't make eye contact and Im always looking around the room whenever i'm having conversation with someone, it's very difficult for me to look at the same spot for longer than 5 seconds. People told me to try the forehead technique but that doesn't work. I know once i can get a job in that field i will be fine but it's until that point. Also i'm expected to call/ approach in person possible employers by the Job Center and times thats happened in the past, i've stammered uncontrollably and felt so embarresed i left in a rush/hung up the phone. I know i need to overcome this but I just don't know what to do at the moment.